How do you try out a new recipe? Do you follow it to the letter, or are you a tinkerer? For years, I didn’t cook often enough to feel confident deviating from the written word; the recipe was law unto the kitchen. But after being forced to improvise when I was living in a rented apartment in the Balkans without cookbooks or measuring cups, I got used to following my own instincts over the stovetop. It helps that I was mainly cooking for myself, and I kept the bar pretty low; Valerian or anyone else daring enough to join me generally wasn’t familiar with what I was trying to do, and didn’t know any better if something came out wrong.

And now? Now I can’t just follow a recipe – I have to tinker with it, either because I have to (lack of required ingredients/tools/skill) or because I want to (impulsive! Picky!).

I can’t remember how I came across this post about Isabelle’s braided hazelnut bread, but when I saw the photo, I immediately wanted to give it a try. So I did. Immediately. I barely looked at the actual recipe, because what really caught my eye was the beautiful effect with the layers of dough and filling. I threw together a slightly-sweet dough, easy-peasy, and we even had some leftover walnut and poppyseed fillings stashed in the freezer.

And then… problems. Getting the baking time right took a little experimentation – the first time I made it, the oven was too hot and the top got a lot browner than I wanted. Even baking at 350° seemed a little hot on the second time around. I got the best results with a cooler oven, then raising the temperature to get the top edges just nicely browned without drying out the center. I ran out of the frozen filling and had to make my own,even.  Oddly, no one complained about having a lot of not-quite-perfect pastry-ish bread to sample.

The technique for getting the fancy layers is simple, but you have to be careful as you twist the floppy, juicy strands. Once you’ve rolled up the dough into a nice compact log:

I recommend transferring it to the baking pan before cutting the center splice:

Then gently cross the two strands over each other to create the twist:

So, will you give this recipe a try? Or just improvise? Because you know, you’ve got to have a slice of this beauty.

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Brunch Twist
adapted from Our Kitchen

Any of the fillings we’ve posted earlier would be great in this bread, I think, but the walnut one I used here was luscious.

Ingredients

Makes one fairly large loaf

• ¾ cup milk
• 1½ tsp instant yeast
• ¾ tsp salt
• 3 tbs vegetable oil
• 2 tbs sugar
• 2¼ cups flour
• Filling of your choice: try one from here, or use jam, or cheese for a savory option. You’ll need about a cup of whatever you’re using.
• glaze: ¼ cup powdered sugar whisked together with the juice of one lemon

Method

• Make a sponge: warm the milk to just below boiling, then set aside to cool to lukewarm. In the meantime, in the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the yeast and half a cup of flour. Stir in the milk and leave until puffy, about 15 minutes.
• Stir in the salt, sugar, and oil, then begin adding the flour. You may not need the last quarter-cup; the dough should be rather soft, but not sticky. Using the bread hook attachment on your mixer, or with your hands, knead until silky and smooth.
• Place in a greased bowl, cover and allow to rise until doubled, about 2 hours. You can also leave it in the fridge overnight.
• Preheat the oven to 350° F/180° C, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Turn out the dough onto a lightly-floured surface. With your hands, gently pat it into a rectangle – this will help it keep its shape as you roll it out. Roll the dough out as thin as you can, turning several times to be sure it isn’t sticking to the work surface; you should end up with a rectangle about 18×24″ (30×45 cm). If you’re having trouble getting it to an even thinness, let it rest for a minute or two then roll some more.
• Spread the dough with your choice of filling, leaving about a 1″ lip along the edge.
• Roll up the dough along the short edge, finishing with the seam on top. Press gently to seal, then move the roll to the baking sheet. Using a sharp knife, cut all the way through the roll lengthwise, leaving about 2″ (5 cm) at one end uncut.
• Handling the dough very gently,  and keeping the cut edge up, lay one strand of the bread over the other, alternating so you have a twist shape. Tuck the end under for a neater appearance.
• Bake for 20 minutes; raise the oven temperature to 375° (180°C) and bake for an additional 7-10 minutes or until the top begins to brown.
• Allow to cool on a rack for 10-15 minutes before brushing the glaze over the top. If you can, wait another few minutes before you slice and serve.

 

If you visit Central Europe, you are almost certain to come across one of the few symbols from the socialist era that remains beloved today: the Little Mole, known variously as Krtek, Krtko, Kisvakond, Krecik or die Maulwurf. Our kids love to watch Little Mole cartoons on YouTube, and since the vast majority of them are short, sweet, and dialogue-free, they’re OK with me too. (There are a few peculiar exceptions that I generally don’t show the children.) The mole and his friends have fully embraced capitalism and now are emblazoned on t-shirts, toys, games and books, and are part of the wave of fashionable nostalgia that hit this region a few years ago.

While he is popular all around the Central Europe, the Little Mole shows his Czech origins from time to time. For his friend the frog’s birthday, he bakes koláče, a typically Czech pastry that can be filled with jam (as seen here), poppyseed filling, sweetened cheese or nuts.

Koláče aren’t reserved for festive occasions, they’re a substantial snack with tea or coffee, or an indulgent breakfast. They are also called frgale, which certainly sounds fancy; they can be dressed up by making patterns with different types of filling, which looks especially elegant if you make one big koláče.

Here’s a recipe and a couple of different filling variations, to be mixed and matched as you like.

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Koláče/Czech pastries

I’ve listed the fillings separately, since they’re useful for other types of pastry.

Ingredients

Makes 8 koláče

• 1 cup/20 ml milk
• 2 oz/50 grams butter
• 3½ cups/500 grams flour
• 1/3 cup + 1 Tbs/80 grams sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 packet instant yeast
• 1 egg + 1 yolk

1 or more filling, in next recipe

Method

• Heat the milk and butter in a small pan until almost boiling. Remove from heat and allow to cool to lukewarm.
• In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, salt and yeast.
• Pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients and stir together. Add one egg and mix until a sticky dough forms. Scrape down the sides of the bowl until it is fairly clean, cover it with plastic and leave the dough to rise for 2 hours at room temperature or overnight in the fridge.
• When the dough has doubled in bulk, divide it into 8 equal portions (each should weigh about 4 oz or 100 grams) and roll into balls. Cover them with a cloth and leave them to rest while you make the filling, see recipes below.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F/190 C. Whisk the egg yolk with about a tsp of water to make an egg wash
• Gently flatten each ball to make a circle about 3½” across (9 cm)and form a well in the center. Spoon about 2 Tbs of filling into the well.
• Brush the exposed dough with the egg wash, and bake on a greased (or even better, parchment-paper lined) baking sheet for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown.

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Sweet fillings for pastry

Each of these recipes will fill at least 8 koláče. If you have filling left over, you could use it to make turnovers with frozen puff pastry dough, or fill any other type of pastry that suits your fancy.

Ingredients for poppyseed filling

• 1 cup + 2 Tbs/150 grams poppy seeds
• ¼ cup/ 60 ml milk
• ¼ cup/ 25 grams sugar

Method

• Grind the poppyseeds in a spice or coffee grinder until they form a paste.
• Mix with the milk and sugar in a small pan and cook over low heat, stirring frequently, for 2-3 minutes.

Ingredients for sweet cheese filling

• 9 oz/250 grams soft cheese, such as turó/tvaroh or ricotta
• ½ cup/ 50 grams sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• zest of one lemon
• 1 Tbs butter, softened
• 1 egg

Method

• Cream the butter and cheese together with the sugar. Beat in the egg, lemon zest, and vanilla.

Ingredients for walnut filling

• 7 oz/200 grams ground walnuts
• 1 cup + 2 Tbs/120 grams sugar
• 2/3 cup/150 ml milk
• zest of one lemon

Method

• Mix all ingredients together in a small pan and cook over low heat for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly.